


The Start of Something New

by Onlymystory



Series: 9-1-1 Episode Vignettes [3]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Boys don't know how to talk about their feelings, Christopher is a Sweetheart, Episode Related, Episode s03e12 Fools, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:35:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23308459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onlymystory/pseuds/Onlymystory
Summary: All it takes is a couple of misunderstandings, several awkward conversations, and one very manipulative son to bring Buck and Eddie together.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Series: 9-1-1 Episode Vignettes [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1667722
Comments: 10
Kudos: 479





	The Start of Something New

**Author's Note:**

> I’m ngl, I sort of hate that Carla is always encouraging Eddie towards other women and implying Buck is kind of a child. At least on the show. But I really like Carla. So in my fics, Carla is always Team Buddie and that’s just how it’s gonna be.
> 
> No attack on Josh, because that shit was stupid.
> 
> I kind of wanted to do a getting together fic off of 3x12 (cuz these boys are definitely fools in love) but like, to do all the scenes, I can’t really keep it to just one POV. Hopefully it doesn’t feel like whiplash. I feel like I’m terrible at omniscient narrator viewpoints so...yeah. Anywho.

Buck’s having a good time with Maddie, Chimney, and Josh, though when Josh says it seems like they’re trying to set them up, he has to agree. Maddie and Chimney laugh it off, but Buck knows Chimney. The guy is a terrible liar. Which means this was an attempt at a setup and they’re pretending otherwise. 

He can’t completely read Maddie, but to be fair, she moved out when he was young and they’re still learning to read each other. It’s hard to be mad at her for still learning to pick up on cues. 

Still, Chimney should know better. 

Buck hates setups and blind dates. Always has. 

Either develop an actual relationship with the person you want to be with, something built on a foundation, or just jump in bed and have a good time.

When Maddie and Chimney make god-awful excuses about going to check the mail together--the mail. At 9pm. That’s clearly sitting on the counter.--Josh leans over towards Buck’s side of the table. “So this was their attempt at a set-up. Right?”

Buck snorts. “Looks that way. What with the great excuse to leave us here in an awkward position.” He realizes he kind of sounds like an ass. “I’m sorry, I’m being a jerk.”

“No, it’s fine,” replies Josh. “You’re uh, not really my type.”

Buck gives him a look, not out of arrogance, but over that hesitation.

“Okay fine, you’re definitely my type--honestly, I don’t think many people would throw you out of bed, it’s just…”

“Just what?”

“Haven’t you been dating Eddie for months?” asks Josh. 

Buck sighs. “I wish.” He does. He wishes all the time and it feels like they’ve been moving forward, moving towards something, but Eddie hasn’t said anything. 

“Wait, seriously? You guys read like a committed married couple. That’s why I was so surprised by this.” Josh laughs with a touch of bitterness through it. 

“I want there to be. Sometimes there are moments when I think Eddie feels the same way and then…” his voice trails away.

“You could try saying something too.”

“Except I can’t. Not really. Eddie has a son. That trumps my feelings. If he wants us to have a relationship, I have to let him initiate that.” Buck takes a deep shuddering breath. “I don’t want just sex. Anything else...that has to come from him, which means Christopher has to be okay with it.”

They both take a long drink of their wine. Buck smiles again, forcibly reviving his former good mood. Because terrible set-up attempt or not, he is having a good time. He takes his phone out and sends a couple contact cards to Josh. 

“What’s this?”

“Since you don’t mind too terribly the idea of being set up, give either of these guys a call. They’re good guys, both of them, and open to a relationship.”

Josh toasts him with his glass. “You’re not half bad, Buckley. Not half bad.”

* * *

“Remind me again why I’m here?” asks Carla as Eddie pulls open the door to Christopher’s school. 

“It’s parent-teacher night,” answers Eddie.

“Right, because that definitely clears everything up. Seeing as I’m not actually one of Christopher’s parents.”

Eddie ducks away from one of Carla’s piercing looks. “I didn’t want to do this alone and you’re a big part of our lives. I really do appreciate this.”

He’s saved the need to talk further by the absolutely horrible jokes from Christopher’s math teacher. 

As soon as they’re back the hallway, Carla starts again. “I don’t mind being here, we all know I love that kid and you, I just don’t see why you’d ask me over Buck.”

“I...um, Buck? Why would I…?”

Carla holds up a hand. “Think through what you want to say right now, Eddie Diaz. Because I am not a fool and I won’t appreciate being treated like one.”

“Well, it’s just that you know about all the bureaucracy stuff and keeping track of what’s going on,” tries Eddie.

“And that works in terms of getting Chris into this school and in finding the grant and insurance programs that pay for it and for my aid. But if you want someone else with you who loves that kid like his own, you know Buck’s your best and only choice.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“He wouldn’t say no,” says Carla, her tone reassuring. 

“It’s just different,” argues Eddie. “Asking Buck to be my partner at parent-teacher night...it just...there’s a line we have to cross to get there. And I can’t put Christopher through that.”

Carla frowns. “If you think Buck would leave Christopher because you and he didn’t work out, you don’t know Buck.”

“I know he wouldn’t.” And Eddie does. After all they’ve been through, nothing can separate Buck and Christopher. The two have literally been through hell and high water. “But I don’t want him to have the awkwardness of me word-vomiting my feelings at him and him trying to politely turn me down while we still have to work together. And I definitely don’t want to make him uncomfortable about coming around and spending time with us.”

“I don’t think Buck would turn you down…”

“He’s not interested in me,” says Eddie firmly. “Not like that. I’m not messing up what we have.”

Carla looks like she wants to argue, but they have more teachers to sit in front of. Eddie’s mind is only half in the room, the other half focused on Buck. 

By the time they get to the last classroom--Christopher’s English class--Eddie’s completely out of sorts. He hates when everyone gets involved with what he and Buck and Christopher have. It works for them. He knows he overcompensates for his emotions with Ms. Flores, knows there wasn’t any point to the pitiful attempt at conversation. But it keeps Carla quiet the rest of the way. 

He texts Buck about the stupidity of the night once he’s home, including the awkward conversation that ended his evening. 

Buck claims being tired earlier than Eddie expected, so he drinks an extra beer, jerks off while resolutely telling himself he’s not picturing anyone in particular, and finally falls asleep.

* * *

Eddie hates everyone. 

He hates the little punks at Christopher’s school that put him on a skateboard.

He hates the teachers who weren’t aware enough to stop it before his son ended up with scrapes and bruises across his body.

He hates himself, because he knows he was an asshole to Ms. Flores. Ana. 

He kind of hates Carla, for pointing out that he needs to talk to his kid. Which circles him right back to hating himself, because isn’t the point of being a parent that you believe in your kid no matter what? He doesn’t want to be the person who has to say “you can’t” to his son. Eddie can’t bear being the one who brings that level of disappointment. 

And then it turns out he brought the disappointment anyway. 

Eddie thinks that if Christopher had been upset or angry or crying, he could have worked with that. Instead, his son looks at him like he’s the bad guy here. 

“You lied.”

It’s like a knife. There’s not enough emotion behind it. There’s not really anything behind it.

Just calm acceptance in his son’s voice. Daddy lies. 

Like he said, Eddie hates everyone.

* * *

Okay, his kid’s right. He does lie. 

He doesn’t hate Buck. Because Buck listens to him vent and reassures him that he probably wasn’t an irreparable asshole to Ana.

Buck tells him he’s not a bad dad.

Whatever’s wearing Buck out though is clearly still an issue, because Buck once again ends their conversation early. 

At Eddie’s repeated question Buck issues a rather short “No, I don’t think you fucked up. Just go talk to the woman and apologize. I’m sure she’ll forgive you.”

Eddie thinks he catches a low mutter of “fuck knows I always do” but then Buck’s saying goodbye and see you on shift tomorrow and Eddie falls back to his usual routine.

* * *

Buck feels itchy and annoyed all day. 

It’s not that he doesn’t know why. Two conversations in a week of Eddie obsessing over how he came across to some pretty woman at Christopher’s school. 

And Buck knew. He knew that someday, someone would come into Eddie’s life. He sort of thought it might start with the occasional hookup in a bar bathroom, not with any kind of actual date implied. 

Eddie and Shannon had their moment after all, but Buck’s been through that with Eddie. Held him up as Eddie navigated the rough waters of grieving the loss of his wife, while still being furious at her for having already decided she was closing the chapter on them. Buck was the one who kept Eddie calm when Eddie couldn’t stop crying over the idea that he didn’t cry enough for Shannon, that they’d just fallen into bed, but he never really fell back in love, and did that make him more of an asshole.

And Buck knew it would hurt. No matter what, he knew the day Eddie found someone, anyone, for whatever reason, was going to feel like a knife through his heart. 

It’s just. Well. He can admit it. There was a tiny sliver of hope in his heart that he was going to be that someone. 

Little fantasies that they’d be sitting on the couch, watching a movie after putting Christopher to bed. Eddie would do his thing of sliding over to Buck’s side, leaning his head on Buck’s shoulder. Their eyes would catch. Buck would lean in. So easy.

Sometimes he fantasized about the two of them getting through a tough fire or rescue. Of desperation and clinging in the station showers. 

The point is, he dreamed and he hoped and no matter what his head said, his heart didn’t listen.

It just hurts more than he thought it would.

A touch of the universe at least seems to be on his side, because every call they get doesn’t need them working together. Buck latches to Bobby’s side, pulls the surrogate dad card a little more intensely than normal. Bobby gives him a look about it at one point, but doesn’t say anything, seeming to recognize that whatever’s going on, Buck doesn’t want to talk about it.

* * *

Their first date gone wrong call is really pissing him off. 

One, since the lady is literally stuck in a window, he’s face to face with Eddie for perhaps the first time all day. 

Buck makes as much effort as possible to look anywhere else, though he knows he’s being excessive based on the look on Hen’s face. 

Whatever. Fuck Eddie and his stupid flirting with pretty teachers.

Buck could go flirt with a teacher. If he wanted.

He’s so busy fuming in his personal bubble, he doesn’t even register what he’s saying until Bobby elbows him in the side. And oh. Yeah, he definitely just went off about Eddie’s flirting failure with the teacher. 

Eddie’s looking at him like he doesn’t understand what just happened. 

Chimney and Bobby have the same ‘dude what the fuck’ look.

Hen appears to be laughing hysterically, so Buck primly ignores her and stumbles his way back out of the moment. 

It’s a terrible hill to die on, but apparently he’s going to make his best attempt. 

* * *

“Okay, what the hell was that?” asks Eddie, when he and Buck are at Buck’s place post-shift.

Buck didn’t even make an attempt to say no. 

He’s such a sucker he thinks to himself. All Eddie had to do was say “so I’ll pick up a six pack and meet you at your place” and Buck’s just nodding along, like oh yeah, today wasn’t weird at all, please come over.

There’s also the minor issue that he literally always wants Eddie over.

“I don’t...I don’t even know. Look, I’m sorry Eddie, it was out of line. Let’s just talk about something else.” 

His plea works, because Eddie’s clearly still hung up on what Christopher said. Not that Buck can blame him. He’d be devastated if Christopher said that to him. He jokes about Eddie getting to look forward to being told he can’t tell Chris what to do.

But he’s a little bit on Carla’s side. Eddie’s going to have to have some tough conversations as time goes on. 

“Do you want me to try talking to him?” he offers. “I mean, I do have some experience with trying to do things that my body’s not ready for.”

Eddie shakes his head at him. “I appreciate that, really Buck. But I think that might go worse. You jumped ahead of yourself--and believe me, I won’t be letting that go for a while yet--but your body was always likely to heal. Your timeline had an end.” 

He sighs heavily. “Christopher’s doesn’t. There’s a lot that he can do. A lot of amazing things. But there are also things he can’t do. And as his dad, Carla’s right. It’s my responsibility to talk with him and help him understand that.”

Eddie’s voice cracks and Buck’s heart breaks. “I just wish I could have waited a little longer before I had to.”

“Hey,” says Buck, taking Eddie’s hands in his. “You are a great father, Eddie Diaz. Christopher knows that. And he will remember that. Just make sure you do too.”

* * *

Buck’s definitely a little drunk by the time Eddie’s pulling his shoes on and checking his phone for a Lyft. He’s pretty sure Eddie only had 2 beers, but they’ve all seen enough accidents to know a $20 carshare fee is always worth it over the other potential costs. 

“Thanks for the advice, Buck,” says Eddie, giving him a hug. 

“Yeah, yeah sure, man,” says Buck, waving like it’s no big deal. 

Eddie’s halfway out the door when Buck puts a hand on his shoulder. “Wait. Eddie, Eddie, wait.”

“Yeah Buck?” Eddie’s voice sounds the tiniest bit exasperated. 

“I just want you to know,” says Buck, pretty sure his words are a little slurred even though he’s trying very hard to say this clearly, “I’d do anything you tell me. And I’d like it.”

He smiles, glad he got his point across, forgetting already what that point actually was, and closes the door, completely missing the gobsmacked look on Eddie’s face.

* * *

Eddie’s had a lot of difficult conversations over the years. With his family, with Shannon, in the Army. Nothing really prepares you for having to disappoint your kid.

Especially when at every point of the conversation, Christopher seems to alternate between apologetic and resigned. 

Eddie wishes Buck were here. Buck explains things in a way that seems easy. 

Thinking of Buck also makes Eddie think about their last words. About Buck’s drunken last words. He’s been trying to process that all day. Was admittedly a feature point in his nightly routine of jerking off and pretending it’s not about Buck. But the idea of telling Buck what to do. Of watching Buck obey. Eddie’s not about to pretend that doesn’t turn him on.

Even without whatever that was, Buck just has a way with Christopher, a connection. He’d be able to talk to Chris without upsetting him. 

But little by little, it seems like they make headway, and Eddie feels the knot in his chest loosen. 

“Hey, you know what I can’t do?” asks Eddie, trying to lighten the mood.

“Cook?” laughs Christopher. 

“Hey, not nice!” he protests with a laugh.

His son gets a sly look on his face. “You also can’t seem to be brave enough to tell Buck you love him.”

Eddie pales. “I...I do. I mean, Buck knows we love him.”

“Dad. Not like that. You really love him.”

“It’s not always that simple, bud.” Though oh how he wishes it was.

“Maybe it is. You have to be brave, Dad.” Christopher puts a hand on Eddie’s arm and looks at him, fully serious, and repeats his own words back to him. “Just because you tried something with Mom and it didn’t work, doesn’t mean it won’t the next time.”

Eddie takes a breath. “Okay, Chris. Okay.”

* * *

He makes a point to apologize to Ms. Flores.

It’s fairly easy. 

He also makes it clear that if he’d given off a different impression, he didn’t mean to. That he wasn’t trying to be flirtatious and he apologizes if he did. 

There’s someone else. 

There’s been someone else for a long time. 

It’s not as easy a piece of the conversation, but it feels vastly more important.

* * *

When Eddie and Buck finally stop running, both laughing along with Christopher and catching their breath, Eddie can’t help but beam at the sight of his kid’s happiness. It’s all he ever really wants, to see Christopher happy. 

“You having a good time, kid?” he asks. 

“Yeah!” Christopher laughs, then looks aside at Buck. Since he’s currently distracted by the video Carla’s showing them, Christopher leans over towards Eddie. “Daaad.”

“Yeah bud?”

“Maybe it’s time for you to try something new too,” he says slyly, his eyes flickering in Buck’s direction.

Eddie looks at Buck, at the way Buck’s face is lit up with pure joy. He thinks about how edgy Buck’s been since Eddie mentioned sounding like an idiot in front of Christopher’s teacher. Thinks about how he didn’t really mean it like flirting, more like an embarrassing story, but he can tell it hurt Buck. He considers how hurt as Buck has seemed and how as on edge at work as he’s been, he still took the time to help Eddie work through his issues. Still made sure Eddie knew he was a good dad. He thinks about how Buck’s spent all his time off this week into putting this contraption together so that Christopher can skateboard, using his free time in the park with Eddie and his son.

He thinks about the way Buck’s entire posture relaxes when Eddie mentioned not being interested in Ms. Flores, the way Buck exhaled at learning Eddie made that clear to her.

Eddie looks at Buck and watches as Buck’s face goes from puzzled to beaming, lighting up in a smile just because Eddie smiled at him. 

“You know something, buddy,” says Eddie. “I think you just might be right.” He reaches out to put his hand over Buck’s. “It’s a perfect day to try something new.”


End file.
